that storm, and enough perhaps circulation for it to prode a funnel cloud which could cause some wind damage in, now it does appear, looks like central and north central calvert county, and now the leading edge of that storm is just entering southern anne arundel county. and this storm is traveling due north. south to north, out of calvert couy, into southern anne arundel county, with torrential rain. the main problem is going to tb flooding from all of this rain that has picked upnntensity rapidly this morning. just a couple of hours ago, it was only raining lightly to moderately. just in the last couple of hours this rain has really picked up its intensity. and it's coming down very hard throughout most of the region where you see these areas of yellow. those are the pockets of the torrential downpours where likely creeks and streams are near banks or out of their banks and flowing across roads. watch out for the high water. again it's dark. you can't tell how high the water is when you're driving along, and you could encounter that very, very heavy rain, and

reducing visibility, so reduce your speed, and it really, unless you absolutely have to get out this morning, this is the best idea, just stay inside. stay in this morng. stay off the roads as much as you can. it's going to be a dangerous traveling situation. again we have a tornado warning for calvert county into anne arundel couty and this is going to continue to advance to the north. it's a very strong thunderstorm cell that is producing tremendous amounts of rain in st. mary's calvert and now southern anne arundel county that is rapidly advancing to the north. the storm is moving along at 40 miles an hour. there's likely going to be at least some gusty winds. but perhaps even some damaging winds from circulation that may be producing a funnel cloud in that particular storm. in calvert, northern calvert county now into southern anne arundel county. and this is the area of the heaviest rain that's associated with this storm system. right now, our temperatures are in the 60s throughout most of the reege. low 70s around the bay, and the

lower eastern shore. a wet day today. this is not the end of it. this is going to continue off and on throughout the rest of the day. pockets of hef why i downpours all the way into the afternoon hours, maybe with thunder and lightning perhaps later this afternoon. and some blustery winds and isolated cells as they roll on through, moving from the southeast hding toward the north and northwest. highs reaching the mid 70s. and this will taper off and end by midnight tonight and tomorrow morning, partly cloudy and blustery wind from time to time later today and tonight, as well. especialy on the eastern shore. winds could be gusting up to 40 mis an hour later today and even around the entire region tomorrow, we could have gusts 25 to 30 out of the northwest as the storm exits and we dry out. then on saturday and sunday we cool down, feeling like autumn partly cloudy both days. afternoon highs into the 60s. and looks like there's some unsettled weather that may move in next week. we'll keep you posted on that. again a tornado warning in effect for calvert into anne arundel counti this morning.

ve heavy rain associated with a storm cell there that continues to advance from the north. we'll be back with frequent updates throughout the mornig. stay with nbc 4, we'llkeep you fully informed. now the roads are certainly not looking good. how is it looking from your vantage? >> tom, good morning to you. good morni, everyone. very, very tough coute. some locations getting just heavy rain. others, it's just a complete deluge. you're going to have to take it very cautiously. if you absolutely do not have to go out this morning, just postpone your travels because it is going to be a tough one. this is 95 in virginia. there have been a couple of accidents, including one up near the beltway. police are working to get those out of the rdway. in from the north, so far so good far as accidents go. i-270 corridor and beltway north of town doing okay. again the combination of the rain and the win beginning to pick up is going to make it extremely difficult if you're going to be out, certainly tra travel time this morning. may want to avoid the far right

and far le travel lanes because that's where the water has a tendency to pond and we'll keep you updated. could be a long day. >> all right, jerry, thanks for that update. >> the wet weather is not affectinonly the roads. the airports warned of delays and remind you to schek your flight status before you head out to the airport. right now also pepco reports more than 1,000 people without electricity in montgomery county, prince georgs county and the distct. ege reports 300 customers without power and virginia dominion reports 73 people without power in northern virginia. now pepco customers who report any outages by calling 1-877-pepco-62. that's 1-877-737-2662. now to that horrific tour bus crash yesterday on i-270. traffic is moving once again this morning. the interstate was closed for five hours during last evening's rush hour. after a bus carrying kids and their parents crashed through a

barrier on an hov flyover ramp and rold down a steep embankment before coming to rest upright. we're live in bethesda now. good morning, tracee. >> good morning, joe. yes, things are moving again on 270. that is the good news. this acdent yesterday was just absolutely amazing. take a look here at 270. traffic flowing without any issue in both directions. and as you said, yesterday folks were stuck here on this highway for a very lg time. this tour bus had children on it, also adults, crashed through a guard rail, as you said, tumbled down to i-270. this happened just about 4:00 p.m. yesterday. the bus was heading north on an hov yover ramp when all of this happened. taking a look at that video. it went through the guard rail and fell about 45 feet down the hill, onto the edge of 270. officials say the driver was killed. other passengers on board were

taken to hospitals. the bus accident caused a secondary car crash. those folks were also taken to the hospital. all of the injured people involved in this incident are expected to be okay we're told there were some children on this bus down here in d.c. from pennsylvania. they went to the zoo and als museums, and we're heading back where this terrible accident happened. a lot of confusion as to exactly what caused that bus to come off the ramp. b the effects were tremendous yesterday during rush hour. as you said, up to five hours folks stuck on 270. they ha to redirect traffic to get people off of th highway. it was an absolute mess. the driver, again, lost his life. a man out of pennsylvania, but the good news that the other folks who were on that bus, who were injured in this horrific accident, are expected to be okay. many of them children. tracee wilkins live this month in montgomery county overlooking i-270. back to you in the studio. >> tracee, thanks very much. a developing story out of pakistan as three people are dead from a nato helicopter

strike at a pakistani security post near the afghan border. nato is investigating the incident saying there's no word yet wheer the attack is linked to an operation against insurgents in a nearby afghan province. the three dead troops were from a paramilitary force assigned to guard the border. new today, two men are fighting for their lives after they were shot in southeast washington. shots rang out around 10:30 last night in the 3500 block of 22nd street southeast. police say the victims are suffering from life-threatening injuries but their conditions are not completely clear this moing. there's also no word on what led to the shootings o whether police have a suspect. investigators are still working to determine if yesterday morning's deadly fire in northwest washington was set intentionally. one man was killed when he jumped to escape the fire in the 3100 block of 16th street in columbia heights. four others, including a 2-year-old girl, were seriously hurt. firefighters believe the fire started on the fifth floor, and they are calling it suspicious right now.

4:38 is your time now. 68 degrees. ahead on "news 4 today," told to write a bigheck that he said would cost him 100 and. >> plus locked down. europe remains on high alert. we'll take a look at what is being done in light of some credible terror threats. >> and stay with us all morning long and we continue to track this torrential rain. we'll get the latest update from ♪ [ ale announcer ] it's luxury with fire in its veins. bold. daring. capable of moving your soul. ♪ and that's even before you drop your foot on the pedal.

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eteorologist tom kierein. here's a live view of interstate 66 near route 123 and you can see thevery heavy rain that is fallinthere. traic is moving slower and that's good because there's ponding of water, many of the area roads. we've got your weather and traffic on the 1s. it is 4:41. i'm meteorologist tom kierein. right now looking at the radar, we have some pocke of very heavy rain that continue to advance from the sou heading north, sweeping across the carolinas into virginia, maryland, the district of columbia, and east and west virginia. this is going to coinue throughout the day today. close-up view of the radar is showing the heaviest rains are south and east of washgton. right now we've had that tornado warning from earlier expir there was a tornado warning around 4:15 this morning for st. mary's, calvert and anne arundel counties. that has now expired. that is the area that is getting some very heavy rain. you can see those pockets of orange and yellow. that is the ve heavy rain that

continues to fall in the northern neck of virginia, then across the tidal potomac and st. mary's county, advancing north. training along. you get pockets of this heavy rain and another one comes, and another one. one right after another. so likely ponds and creeks there are getting full of water and watch out for high water on roads, especially in anne arundel, calvert and st. mary's counties this morning. otherpockets of some heavy rain to the uth, as well near fredericksburg and the western part of the northern neck and north of washington, this is going to continue off and on throughout the rest of the afternoon, and into early this evening. details on the forecast coming up. jerry, how's the traffic? >> we're going to head onout, the capital beltway abe the american legion bridge. left side the outer loop, right side the inner loop, doing relatively okay. authorities have just been dispatchefor an accident inner loop at the 270 spur. watch fire and rescue crews headed out there. i fear it might be the first of many, many to come.

sewhere, wilson bridge we're okay. i-70 eastbound before you get to the baltimore beltway is closed. overght accident is under investigation. eastbouni-70 right before the baltimore beltway completely blocked. joe, eun? >> jerry, thank you. time is now 4:4 3. still to come the candidates for governor in maryland trade high profile endorsement. >> and sarah palin's stalking concerns. what a teenager is accus of sending her in the mail. >> and that's a look at what could have happened if the failed times square attack had been carried t. >> and we continue to track the heavy rain. downpours will last through the morning. the radar is an absolute mess. a check of the full forecast is just minutes away. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's luxury with fire in its veins. bold. daring. capable of moving your soul. ♪

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it is 4:46. here's a look at the two top stories we're following this morning the wug area getting hammered right now.

heavy rain falling. a flood watch is in effect and we'll get an update. >> i-270 is open again right now. it was closed for five hours yesterday, though, during rush hour after a bus carrying children and their parents plunged off an hov flyover ramp and rolledown a hill, coming to rest just inches from the very busy interstate. the 66-year-old bus driver was killed, and at least a dozen people were injured. all are expected to be okay. the man who was trying to bomb times square last may intended to strike several times. this morning there is new video of just how bad it would have been had that bomb gone off. nbc's leanne gregg reports. >> reporter: the pakistani american faisal shahzad is accused of trying to set off a car bomb in times square last may. the explosive device failed. two days later shahzad was arrested while trying to leave the country on a flight from new york bound for dubai. this is an fbi recreation of what could have happened if his plan wou have worked.

different camera angles show the force of the blast, and its potential impact to people and vehicles nearby. prosecutors will use this video for sentencing, along with this, of shahzad taken in pakistan, glorifying the planned attack. during the taping shahzad said he wanted to join his brothers in jihad since 9/11. prosecutors say shahzad used new yorcity web cams, accessible online, to study crowd patterns in his effort to maximize damage. they say he thought he would show about 40 people. in june chez aid pleaded guilty to all ten coun against him. prosecutors are asking for a sentence of life in prison leanne gregg, nbc news. shahzad maintains his cover, living in connecticut with his wife and two children. he earned a college degree while on a student visa and had permission to remain in the country on a work visa. brand-new information this morning about the terror plot targeting major european cities. various sources say thousands of

additional police and military personnel have essentially blanketed the city as a precaution. and it's not just in france. according to intelligence sources in germany, german jihadists who fought for al qaeda in afghanistan and pakistan are now coming back home to continue to fight. the germans are concerned that these people can build sleeping cells,eady to make bombing in germany or somewhere else. >> and tourists are being affecte because of several bomb threats the eiffel tower has been shut down twice in the past two weeks. now to decision 2010. president barack obama will campaign for maryland governor martin o'malley next week. the o'malley campaign confirmed the october 7th event with the "l.a. times." the president will headline a rally for o'lley. it will be his first publ camign event for a fellow democrat since january. the location of the rally has not been determined. the candidates in the maryland race for governor get key

endorsements. current new york mayor michael bloomberg endorsed democratic governor martin o'malley. he will hold a campaign rally in bethesda tomorrow. formernew york city mayor rudy giuliani endorsed former governor bob ehrlich. giuliani campaigned for the republican in 2006. the next mayor of the district says he's going to spend the next few months letting district citizens get to know him better. d.c. council -- >> probably some people who don't even know who i am in the city. even though i've been the chairman of the council. i've been a council member. one of the purposes of town hall meetings is to help people get to know better. i start out with a positive attitude about all of this. >> d.c. chrs answered questioned yesterday at a georgetown lunch. gray said despite his years of public service, many peop still don't know him. he defeated incumbent mayor adrian fenty in a racially split election in which most white voters supported fenty. gray said it's now up to him to appeal to the wle district as he prepares to take office on

january the 2nd. an alaska judge has issued a restraining order against a pennsylvania man accused of stalking an threatening former governor sarah palin. sean r. christy was issued a 20-day protective order after palin claims he made implied threats through phone and written messages, saying she should watch her back. he also said he was buying a one-way ticket to alaska and sent her a receipt for a gun purchase. christy was ordered to have no contact with palin's family and stay a mile away from her home. washington wizards owner is $100,000 poorer this morning thanks to some comments he made about the nba's labor negotiations. the ague fined him after he told a group of business leaders that the nba will soon have a salary cap. nba commissioner david stern says that is not necessarily true, and fined him for unauthorized public comments about the negotiation process. >> steep fines.

$100,000. that's a lot in my book. m very busy morning weatherwise. >> a lot of heavy rain that's been coming in and picking up in intensity over the last couple of hours. this rain has really started to come down very rd. all of this from the represent ntzs of trocal storm nicole. circulation from that remnant is now over eastern south carolina. but on t eastern sectoof that is where the flow comes in off of the atlantic, and bringing in torrential rain where you see the moving area of yellow and orange. these are the bands of very heavy rain coming in off of the atlantic. now into north carolina and yes we've had some passing right in to our metro area, as

stafford and then outs of spotsylvania out of stafford and prince willm county. this band should be moving right into fairfax county in another ha hour or so. farther to our west the rain is not coming down quite as hard right now but you're not out of the woods there yet, either. riht now temperatures around the region, generally in the 60s

around washington to near 70 by the bay. mid 70s on the eastern shore, and all of this is going to continue here throughout the daybecause it's going to take awhile for this circulation from the remnants of nicole to pass through our region. the wider view showing that t entire atlantic seaboard from the rolinas all the way to new england will be affected by this storm throughout the day. so, likely travel up and down the northeast corridor will be snarled. so, heavy rain from time to time. maybe a little thunder and lightning too this morning. greater chance of that tis afternoon as we reach the mid 70s. this rain should d by later tonight. then a blustery wind will develop tonight, too, into tomorrow after the storm goes by and we'll have highs mid 70s with the sun back and the blusty wind tomorrow. saturday and sunday partly cloudy and cooler. 40s in the morning, 60s in the afternoon. weather could be a bit unsettled next week. how's the affic? >> authorities headed over for an accidt report a moment ago along interstate 270 southbound between route 28 and montrose road. givenhat is a significant stretch it is report of a car in to the guard rail, into the

jersey wall. fire and rescue crews are headed over there. the district to southeast this morning. just wanted to show you what it looks like. very huff going. lots of ponding of water this morning, so be aware. one more stop, if you're going to be traving interstate 70 headed to baltimore heads up, accident at eastbound i-70 closed right before you get to the baltimore beltway. and again, i can't stress enough how dangerous it isut there. there's a lot of ponding of water, and conditions are not favorable so if you can postpone your travels, it's a good idea. construction areas, particularly tough along kennelworth avenue in through the district from eastn avenue on down. the jersey wall, the water has no place to drain so it's going to be very, very difficult there. 66 inside the beltway, broken down vehicle, tire changer on the shoulder, be very careful. busy morning. >> thanks very much, jerry. coming up, dozens of burglaries in one pt of virginia. could all be the work of a single criminal.

a troubling one-man crime spree. >> and today might not be the best day to judgeut a new study claims that traffic in d.c. may not be as bad as you think [ male announcer ] the turn changes everything.

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introducing the new 2011 cts-v coupe. from cadillac. the new standard of the world. that's why lysol has started a mission for health. with new mom programs, lysol healthy habits initiatives in schools and disaster relief efforts. when you use lysol at home, you'll know you're a part of somethingigger. for healthy tips and more, visit lysol.com/missionforhealth. good morning i'm meteorologist tom kierein. waves of very heavy rain moving into the metro area out of e south. we just had a tornado watch issued for the entire region. that means that there is a possibility that an individual storm cell could produce some

circulation and a funnel cloud. again, a tornado watch is just finished before our region throughout much of t rest of the day. we could have an individual storm cell producing a funnel cloud. right now, don't have any reports of that. the main story now is very heavy rain that advances south to north, where you see the pockets of yellow and orange. those are the areas of the heaviest rain. ght now just to our south about to sweep into the metro area, report on the weather coming up in just a couple of minutes. joe? >> thanks very much, tom. we all know that traffic in the d.c. area is bad bu it could be worst. ceos for cities ranked d.c. as the 14th worst for sprawling land patterns the report says the secret to producing the aount of time americans spend in traffic has more to do with how we build our cities than how we build our roads. nashville at the top of the list. richmond is urth. chicago is at the bottom of the list. we have a warning this morning if you live in fairfax county. police are looking for a burglar who might have targeted more than 50 homes since the end of last month.

the crime spree began august 24th. eightburglaries were reported this past tuesd night. dozens of new incidents are being reported every week while most are home break-ins there have also been car thefts. some residents are concerned because a burglar often strikes while people are sleeping. >> there was no sound a no barking from them. very unsettling. it's scary. >> the possibility of an encounter between the burglar and homeownersis there. and that's a major concern to us. we don't want homeowners hurt. >> police say the best way to prevent a burglary is to lock all your doors and ndows, including the ones from the rage. >> and stay with us now. "news 4 today" continues right now at:00 a.m. flooding fears, torrential rain is falling in our area, and itl